Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 30 points and added 10 rebounds, scoring 16 in the first and going 4-8 from three.

The starting backcourt of Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton combined for 26 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds and was 6-12 from three.

The Knicks hit 19 of 36 from downtown, led by Steve Novak who hit five three’s while Miami was only 7-20.

Miami turned the ball over 21 times with Lebron James and Dwayne Wade combining for 9 of those turnovers.

Six players scored in double figures for the Knicks, with 31 points coming off the bench, 28 from Novak and J.R. Smith

With the crowd chanting his name, Rasheed Wallace entered the game late in the fourth, knocking down the 19th and final three pointer of the night for the Knicks on his 2nd shot.

Lebron James had 23 to lead the Heat while Rashard Lewis was the second leading scorer with 16 points….You read that correctly.

What a fun opening night that was to watch.

The Knicks did a lot right from beginning to end as they never trailed after the early moments of the first quarter and were ahead by double digits from the middle of the first through the final buzzer.

The Knicks went with a smaller lineup with Felton and Kidd helping to key the victory with smarts, leadership and getting the near perfect ball movement to continue to be an integral part of the victory.

Carmelo Anthony came out and missed his first two shots, but after that was pretty much unstoppable the rest of the first quarter, scoring 16 while the entire Heat team scored 17.

Melo was 1-9 in the 2nd quarter and the Knicks were outscored 27-22. The other three quarters, He was 9-19 and the Knicks outscored the Heat 82-57.

The defense the Knicks were showing all night really was encouraging and shows that Mike Woodson has this team playing up to its defensive capabilities. The Heat did not have it easy when they drove the lane and were forced to take a lot of jump shots. At one point the Knicks had Melo at Center and the Heat still relied on the outside shot.

The old saying goes that you live by the three and you die by the three and Knicks were living large from behind the arc. They were finding a lot of wide open shots from three and hit some big shots throughout the game. At one point Jason Kidd forced a foul from three where he missed the shot but went to the line to knock down all three free throws.

The crowd, announced at 19,033, was loud and into the game all night long as for a couple of hours, their troubles were gone and they were just enjoying another big game at the Garden.

The next game for the Knicks is at Sunday Matinee game at the Garden as they welcome the Philadelphia 76ers to town, tip off is at 12:00 PM